James Foley helmed this suspenseful drama boasting a stellar cast. Con man Jake Vig (Ed Burns) just may have swindled the wrong guy in Lionel Dolby. Soon after the gig, two of his cronies turn up dead, and he discovers that Lionel is the accountant of a crime boss known as The King (Dustin Hoffman). To repay him, Jake makes banker Morgan Price his next target. But Morgan's backed by the mob, and an old nemesis (Andy Garcia) is on Jake's tail.
| 1 hr 37 mins |
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At the beginning of James Foley's Confidence, Edward Burns intones in voice-over, "So I'm dead. And I think it's because of this redhead." Your tolerance for Burns, self-conscious voice-over, and half-baked David Mamet-by-way-of-Elmore Leonard neo-noir heist pictures will determine whether you find Confidence required viewing or merely a not-unpleasant 98-minute diversion.
Foley's spotty career includes the superior acting exercises At Close Range and Glengarry Glen Ross and lowlights The Chamber and The Corruptor. Smelling Mamet on Doug Jung's byzantine plotting and profanity-adorned humor, Foley turned up his primary-color mood lights, hired Dustin Hoffman to play a sleazy crimelord, and tilted his forehead against the wind. This turns out to be a pretty wise approach, and Confidence comes on, appealingly, like gangbusters. [ show more ]
Ever-bland Burns plays Jake Vig, a grifter whose team needs a big score to make things right with Hoffman's so-called King. The scam, by necessity, involves handling a rogue's gallery of touchy friends or foes: crooked cops (Donal Logue and Luis Guzmán), King's FBI-turncoat enforcer (Andy Garcia), and, naturally, a dame (Rachel Weisz's Lily). The usual up, down, backwards and sideways plot movements serve the heist yarn, the sort which must always include pronouncements like the one describing the con as "like a game of chess...You have to see that deep."
The problem with Confidence is that it never breaks through its superior (and infinitely more flavorful) inspirations to become distinctive in its own right. One of Confidence's best scenes--a nifty scam in a jewelry store--recalls the short-form-con schooling of pictures like Mamet's House of Games. The freak-out omen of a bird recalls the "hat on a bed" rant in Drugstore Cowboy.
Confidence's most distinctive element--a typically filigreed turn by Hoffman--is also its most inorganic. Under other conditions, any grizzled character actor could play this nothing part. That Hoffman plays it is, I suppose, a saving grace, but one that's clearly beneath the actor. As such, the performance--which emphasizes a blend of business horse sense and soulless, immoral rampancy--reeks of fast-dancing improvisation out of sync with the film's more pedestrian plot machinations. The film seems to stop cold for Hoffman's best scene: a chill-inducing set of moves put on a petrified Weisz.
In the broad strokes, Confidence's plot switches are easy to smell, though certain particulars may pleasingly elude audiences in the good old-fashioned way, and players like Brian Van Holt, Paul Giamatti, Robert Forster, Logue, Guzmán, and Garcia add a charge to the proceedings. But as Burns repeatedly natters on the soundtrack, money is "that little itch you need to scratch," and Confidence accordingly seems more like time-marking commerce than a piece of art with its own point of view. [ show less ]
There's this rule in Hollywood that may be unwritten but is nonetheless ironclad: stick to the formula. The hero can't die in a romantic comedy. The drama can't be too funny, and the comedy can't be too sad. Action flicks can't be too deep, and "serious" movies have to be somewhat boring.
On the rare occasions when some movie comes along that breaks these rules, we usually get cinematic excellence. But with Confidence, don't be expecting any deviation from the format. Confidence is a fun, enjoyable, light caper movie. It doesn't pretend to be anything else. And for what it is, it's not half bad.
Edward Burns plays a con man, Jake Vig. Together with his crew of seasoned, confident fellow con men, he scams people out of money. Lots of money. And of course, sooner or later he's bound to pick the wrong person to scam. In this case it's a seemingly innocuous accountant who just happens to work for a mob kingpin, cheesily called "the King" (but played brilliantly by Dustin Hoffman). In a tight spot, Jake agrees to do a con and split the proceeds with the King, to get him off his back. What follows is the usual series of crosses, double-crosses, and triple-crosses while everyone tries to figure out who to trust and who's about to screw who over. [ show more ]
When I say that Confidence follows the rules, I mean it. Crime capers must have wise-talking characters. This does. Crime capers must be stylish. This is. Crime capers must have the token female, whose role is to be sexy but not too sexy. Rachel Weisz fills the part here, and does a decent job at it. (Other such token women included Julia Roberts in Ocean's Eleven, and Angela Bassett in The Score). Crime capers must make the audience scratch their heads trying to piece it all together, but must not make them think about any deeper moral issues of right and wrong. Again, Confidence lives up to that deal on both counts.
Still, it was fun escapist entertainment. And, without giving away too much of the ending, let's just say that I'm always impressed with a movie that manages to surprise me. That alone makes it worth seeing. [ show less ]
Dustin Hoffman isn't charming or caring or understanding in "Confidence." Here he's not just evil, he teeters on the brink of uncontrollable madness - but with a dollop of humor that makes his violent nature more interesting (but not appealing). He is a creep!
"Confidence" is the latest in the unending string of films about men and women scam artists always scheming for that truly earthshaking big score. (There must always be an enticing, enigmatic woman for a film of this kind to keep viewers engrossed, e.g., "The Thomas Crown Affair".) And the crooks usually have soft spots in their hearts and a propensity to make silly - even deadly - errors. And at least one member of the group, usually the leader, has to look good in a well-tailored suit. [ show more ]
That's the situation here as Edward Burns plays the honcho of a small band of swindlers who really seem to have bonded together. They trust each other - but no one else. But, of course, they must deal with new "co-workers" whose motivations and alliances are suspect but hardly clear. And we also have a pair of the LAPD's Not Finest adding a humorous dimension not often found in tough rogue cops on the take.
And then there's Rachel Weisz - I've been a fan of her acting since "About a Boy" and "Enemy at the Gates." Certainly she's an emerging star and it's her acting ability plus her beauty that's taking her to leading roles. An English actress, she joins Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman - Down Under natives - in flawlessly speaking like a Yank (or a SOCAL denizen, not quite the same thing).
Don't look for a true mystery here. This isn't David Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner." But it is a four-star show by a fine ensemble cast.
7/10. [ show less ]
